final character

So I have final finished my character her are some screen shots of the finshed model

Evaluation

In this document I'll be looking this project as a whole and evaluating how I performed in each part of the project. As we were asked to create 3-D models in the brush the main challenge I faced was learning the software of the brush. Blood was able to pick this a relatively easily is using packages like Maya gave me a general idea of how to the navigates the software.

With my time management in this project it was a lot better than my previous project as I started construction of the final model well in advance before the deadline. Although the modelling time was managed well the other little pieces of work and also formatting all files did take a lot longer and were left to be done at the last stages of the project. It is clear that for my next project I should set aside a few days to format the files for submission. As well as this I think that I should try to create many different versions of my final piece to then compare the to each other and pick out the best aspects of or of each. Even though I did that to a degree in this project if I would have set out more time I feel I could have improved my model even further

When researching for my project I found this incredibly easy compared to last terms project. As I was able to visualise my character more easily allowing me to go further into depth exploring what my character could look like.

We were asked in the project to produce some conceptual art for my character in the form of silhouettes and value drawings i found this part to be the worst part as I was so keen to model in Zbrush. But I must say that this was my greatest weakness in this project as conceptualising an idea and drawing it is not a good strength I have.

The part of the project by really enjoyed was the modelling side in even though this is my first time creating a character in the Zbrush I picked up most of the interface and tools quickly and this is something I definitely use in the future as this project is mainly more confidence in the Zbrush. When I was working in Zbrush I created different test models for my final model creating different types of armour is as to see what looked better on the actual 3-D sculpture. This led to me throwing out the first idea I had from armour set and going for a different approach to creating his suit. In the future I aim to use the skills I have developed from the Zbrush tabular projects such as Maya focused projects to create high Poly conceptual models and also optimised game ready models

My overall feelings of this project if I enjoyed it very much and would like to do a similar project in the future but I would know to manage my time more precisely as I would have a better idea an understanding on the amount of time needed.

CS: Roles and Practises

3D with Triple-A and indie the differences that separate them

Though the game industry may still be young 3D games are younger still. With almost every major game being created in the industry high quality 3D is an expected standard. "I see how much better we are with 3D this year than we were last year" (Patrick Naud 2010) This came from an employee at Ubisoft triple a company that stands on the cutting edge of 3D technology.This point highlights how much 3-D modellers have to change to survive in this ever-changing industry. With different 3D software packages becoming obsolete rapidly because of more advanced packages are 3D modeller doesn't just have to do know how to model they must be quick to adapt to new software.

When it comes to creating games in 3D they are often very time and resource consuming. This can then be a big problem for smaller independent companies as they may not have the resources to build a highly polished 3D game. The budget is often a factor that determines this as most small companies cannot afford to have a specialist model only create certain assets. They will often hire a single model for someone who can multitask between certain jobs for example one of our chewers George Beard said for his first job of working on a game for a small government game "I was in charge of creating all 3D assets for this game" (George Beard 2014). This is often the case with smaller companies they commonly ask that they have a 3D modeller back and do all the 3D asset creation even in different job proposals I have seen this "Modeling (Props, Characters and Environments), Modeling (High Poly), Modeling (Low Poly), Texturing" (3D Modeler / Generalist 2014) This shows that the smaller the team the more general the 3D skills have to be.

In the early stages of 3D software becoming available to developers it was often very expensive to obtain the licences for the software. With some prices ranging into the thousands like the autodesk program Maya “$3,675,00” (Cnet 2013)  This made it impossible for small independent companies with limited budgets to obtain them but as 3-D packages have become more popular and more technologically advanced some limited versions of the software are free for anyone to use and this is given independent companies a chance to create 3D games and is open the door for more casual 3-D users to become a part of the industry

Slender (2011) indie company                                         Mortal Kombat (2011) tripe-A company

On the other end of the spectrum triple-A companies are almost the complete opposites to indie games in this regard. This means with 3-D modellers it almost like working a completely different job. As with the ever expanding production value of games ranging into the millions 3D modellers roles at became a lot more specific. With triple-A games they go through a set pipeline of production from concept to 3D to animator with many sure tasks in between. For a model the pipeline often starts with a high poly model "weighs in at about 6,250,000 polygons and 14 meshes (subtools). Right off the bat we have a pretty major issue because this is far too many polygons to render in real-time" (Profile Chris 2011) after this they are imported into my where they are optimised for in game "Staying inside ZBrush, we're going to go through each mesh and create a low poly version of the asset" (Profile Chris 2011) the reason for this strict pipeline is to optimise time management to make the modellers as efficient and cost-effective as possible. The reason that indie companies do not follow such a strict pipeline is because they are often trade secrets amongst companies to give them a competitive edge against other companies "trade secrets such as the artists' pipelines for major developers are protected by long, strict NDAs" (Game Development 2012)

One of the biggest factors that affects all 3D modellers is software development. As almost every year really software is change in advance and that out the old in with the new. With packages like the Zbrush and Maya being the industry leaders in software  other free packages are starting to emerge. As with the case with the software like blender it used to be a company owned custom 3D package until the owners released its a free after receiving some donations to further from the package. a Blender funding campaign to collect donations, and on September 7, 2002, announced that they had collected enough funds and would release the Blender source code (Blender (software) 2002) this was a bit of a game changer for independent modellers and small companies as they were able to start creating 3D assets for free and a substandard to expensive industry-leading packages.

With changes like this to the 3D community it allowed for an explosion of amateur 3-D modellers to start learning the tricks of the trade with many creating their own games or some recreating 3-D assets from games. It gave India companies or individuals a chance to break in the 3-D game production. In turn this left people who would not chance to become full professional 3-D modellers which in turn increases standards. This rise in free technology is ever bridging the gap between independent companies and Tripe A. But it is clear that time and budget will always play a role in the quality of 3D and also what roles modellers perform for a game. As Triple-A modellers will go down more pipeline based production method and in the modellers will go on a more hands-free approach this really to show that there will always be a slight gap between the two types of modellers.

bibliography

.Cnet (2013)/ http://reviews.cnet.com/graphics-and-publishing/autodesk-maya-2014-unserialized/4014-3626_7-35648566.html

.Blender (software) (2002)/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)

.Proflie chris (2011)/ http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/55121

.3D Modeler / Generalist (2014)/ www.Linkdin.com 

.Game Development (2012)/ http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/22898/how-does-an-aaa-graphical-workflow-look-like

.George Beard, (2014), Projects and people lecture 

.NetherRealm Studios (2012) Mortal Kombat/http://www.netherrealm.com/ updated 20/02/14

.Patrick Naud, (2010). Moving to the next level

.Parsec Productions (2012) Slender/http://www.parsecproductions.net/ updated 20/02/14

CS: Research

For this assignment I have been asked to look at the different career path is there are in the games industry and how some careers have become obsolete and some have developed and changed due to the technology or the attitude of the market. First off and done a look at the difference career path there are in the game industry from financial to program and all in between. When researching I went to the creative skill set homepage: http://www.skillset.org/games/careers/article_2768_1.asp and
When searching for different job titles they showed me a help full job listing provided certain jobs into difference sections here is the image for example:

image from http://www.skillset.org/uploads/pdf/asset_8492.pdf?1

Now I'm going to create my mother's revolving around these types of game jobs and also the different offshoots from these jobs to get a sense of how in-depth some of the roles are within the industry.

The jobs aim learning to look at for this assignment is the finance so thing like management of money and cash flow management or 3D model like environment creation or assets creation. 

I'm now going to looking more closely at how 3-D modellers operate and aiming to look more closely at the differences between models that work on indie games and Triple-A games. 

Within triple-A games 3-D modellers are often a valuable member of the development team. But in massive game productions there are many different types of modellers and also vast numbers of them. In a triple-A game there there is not one 3-D modeller that covers all types of 3-D models of the game as with the scale of a triple-A game it would be impossible for one or two people to create all 3-D assets to a triple-A standard. So the way it is set out is that there are often Independents modellers that work on certain creations for example character modellers they will focus on the character creation while and asset modeller will focus on props to be placed in the environment e.g. chairs, tables. This is often shown with job offers that Triple-A companies open up. They will often ask for 3-D modeller which specialises in a certain area for example assets with experience of current graphics here are some examples that I was able to find of job offers asking for certain types of models. 

:http://www.gamesindustry.biz/jobs/opm/uk-and-europe/3d-prop-modeler-andndash--france-andndash--negotiable-salary---benefits-andndash--console-games-id67660

:http://www.babcockinternational.com/careers/vacancies/details.aspx?nPostingID=10384&nPostingTargetID=33600&option=52&sort=DESC&respnr=1&ID=QQMFK026203F3VBQB8MV479AL&Resultsperpage=10&lg=UK&mask=stdext&utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Indeed

In Indie companies they are often the opposite to triple-A companies when it comes to 3-D modellers. As indie companies often have very limited budgets. They often dont have the budget to hire individual modellers to work on their game they will often higher one or two people back model all the 3-D models for the game but often as well indie companies will try to hire a generalist someone who will be able to animate model texture and make the 3-D assets game engine ready the drawbacks to this is that the quality of the models are nowhere near the standard of triple-A games because of the limited budget and time.

Software as well is a big factor that affects indie companies and triple-A companies. As in the past 3-D modelling software was very expensive making it almost impossible for small companies to access 3-D software. But as time has moved on some 3-D software is became free to download for example blunder this gave a massive opportunity that even individuals to start learning how to create 3-D assets. 

With the further development of 3-D software more and more became free to download and anyone can access them this gave indie companies a chance to start creating 3-D games without paying a hefty price tag which often would be impossible for them to afford this was another moment's which heavily affected 3-D model is within the game industry.

For the essay:

In the essay I'm going focus mainly on the differences between Triple-A and indie and how time has affected this difference and what it has done for both types of studio

Introduction:

explain 3D

Main:

Its effect on games

Rise of 3-D software

Triple-A modellers

Indie modellers

Main differences between the two types of models

Conclusion: 

However increasing software has changed 3-D

Ever closing gap between Triple-A modellers and indie modellers

Model video

Life drawing and environment drawing

On 15th of January I attended a life drawing session in which we had a ballerina as our model. She did many different standing poses and also facial poses here are the drawings I had from that day:

poses:

faces:

final image:

On the 22 January we went off-site to the Norwich Museum and we were asked to focus on clothing here is the drawing I did that day.

On Wednesday, 5 February we had another life drawing session this time were asked to focus on perspective lines by focusing on a real-world object in this case a rectangular box and then the model would pose around the box so we could attempt to get the proportions correct as well we also did drawings of his hands and drawings of a chair and then outlined the drawing with different poses the model did in different colours

Hands:

 Box drawing

 Final image 

On the 12 February we went off-site again to the museum at this time we focused on the main castle keep we had to focus mainly on the structure of the building without focusing too much on the little details we are asked to include as much as we can into our drawing on here is my final image

value study

here are three value studies of three of my silhouettes aim gone use these to out line my character in Z brush.

superhero mark 1 model

Here are some images of the first design I have for my superhero's uniform. I've gone for a very padded lock with many different plates of armour and also a jumpsuit underneath along with a pair of goggles for a mask and cloth to cover the mouth. 

  straps in between armour plates

 Like plates

 Main chest plating

 Full body plating

 Mask

 Final model mark one

silhouettes

here are some silhouettes drawing I have done for my character to try and get an idea on how to shape the character. Hopefully with the silhouettes be able to outline the main idea if my character. Then from these silhouettes and going to create some value studies to further outline an idea my character